Mozilla Offers New `Persona` Website Authentication System

Mozilla launches its website authentication system, Persona, to help users create and manage specific usernames and passwords.

Image credits:The Mozilla Foundation

Users authenticate in Persona-supported websites with only e-mail addresses. It starts with creating an account on Mozilla`s persona.org website, where the user choses a password and adds unlimited e-mail addresses. “This lets you keep your various online personalities (school, work, home, etc.) separate,” Mozilla says in an article about Persona. The identity of the user is correlated to the e-mail addresses with confirmation e-mail.

Once ownership is verified, the user can access websites supporting Persona authentication by clicking twice. While users logged into persona.org will only select already-verified e-mail address they need to enter a certain website, those who are not logged in need to provide their e-mail address along with the Persona password to sign in.

“It creates a wall between signing you in and what you do once you`re there. The history of what sites you visit is stored only on your own computer,” Mozilla adds.

While this system makes it easy to manage passwords and usernames across the WWW, centralized management is nonetheless risky. Let`s hope Persona creators are already looking into ways of strengthening the security aspect of this new authentication system.